Activating Your Program's Strategy and Evaluation

John B. Nash, PhD, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Iowa State University

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• 2010
  • SAI
• 2011
  • Minnesota
  • SAI
  • AEA 8

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Overview of Key Points

• Think in turns of change instead of do
• First think about what the change is we want....identify the change.
  • Then confirm what it is that we want to do to get that change to occur
• 9 step model for planning a strand of a strategy-
  • It will help you better understand if the initiative will work.
  • Planning with "balance" in mind
  • Planning within a "strand"
    • Use these steps to plan and evaluate a "chunk" of a program.

The Nine Steps

Step 1-State the change you will make. You should write down a change statement indicating a shift from A to B.

• Defines where we want to go
• Allows for a sort of backward mapping
• Allows a group to ask "where are we?" and then ask "what should we change?"
• Allows a group to obtain common buy-in for a change.
• Naming the change first allows you to ensure you don't obtain resources that don't bear on the change.
• It makes the goal transparent
• Stay off the "how"--don't focus on how you will meet the goal yet.
• Naming the "change you will make" helps determine if change is necessary
• It can help you be more selective when you get to the "how"
• Stating a goal in terms of a change helps pin down critical behaviors

Change statements are SMART (Specific, Measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based)

• SPECIFIC: Not vague. No jargon. Others "get it" immediately. No "and". No "or." No "also." No "so that...."
• MEASURABLE: Worded in a way that you can sense an increase or decrease is sought
• ATTAINABLE: Make it feasible within a fiscal year or less
• REALISTIC: Make sure it is realistic
• TIME-BASED: You know the time period needed to reach the goal

Step 2-State the reason why the change is needed.

• Convinces stakeholders the change is necessary
• Help with creating buy in on "how life will be better"
• Assuage fears of others that the project is worthwhile
• Shows the problem you are solving in context of everything else
• Allows a group to create a common vision
• Creates accountability
• Makes the goal or changes sought more public and contextual

Step 3-Things you will do

• Most people start here - you shouldn't. Always start with step 1, "The Change You Will Make."
  • Indicating what you will do is important, but it should not be the first step in a plan
• Make sure you have balance in your activities--that you only list the things you need to do to trigger the change listed in step 1.
• Ask yourself: Will the "do" really address the problem?
• Keep it couched in terms of the goal...it's all about the change you will make.
• Why wouldn't you want to start with this step?
  • You may choose the wrong things to do.
  • You may develop solutions that are looking for problems.
  • You might get change, but it wasn't the one you hoped for
• Balancing the things you will do with the specific change you seek helps define what are we not going to do...reduce opportunity costs

Step 4-State the things you need to create the change

• The "stuff."
• The items you'll need to complete the steps in column three.

Step 5 - We should not look for change until

• Don't want to evaluate too quickly
• Want to know what success looks like
• Able to hold yourself accountable to the things we will do (3) and the things we need (4)
• This allows you to state some time period under which you will do you implementation.

Step 6 - Indicators the change has occurred

• Validate if the goal was reached
• Challenges in selecting poor indicators
  • unclear
  • unmatched
  • use "easy"/"old" indicators
  • not understandable
  • not agreed upon by stakeholders

Step 7 - The way we'll collect the indicators

• Indicate the method by which you will collect your indicator data

Step 8 - When we'll collect it

• Accountability
• Chief worrier

Step 9 - Who will collect it

• Accountability
• Chief worrier